Greek prime minister apologizes over country’s deadliest train crash

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday apologized over the country’s deadliest train disaster and said he will ask Brussels for help to overhaul the country’s railway network as mass protests continued unabated. 

“As prime minister, I owe everyone, but above all the relatives of the victims, a big SORRY,” Mitsotakis wrote on Facebook. “In the Greece of 2023, it is not possible for two trains to run on opposite sides of the same track without anyone noticing.”

Two trains traveling at high speed in opposite directions on the same line collided head-on in Tempe in northern Greece on February 28, killing at least 57 people and injuring 85. A train with at least 350 on board including many university students hit a cargo train.

“We can’t, won’t and shouldn’t hide behind human error,” added the prime minister. Mitsotakis previously said on March 1 that the disaster was “primarily down to a tragic human error.”

The stationmaster for the city of Larissa faces charges of negligent homicide and admitted to some responsibility in his first court appearance on Sunday, according to Greek broadcaster ERT. 

But Greece’s aging 2,550-kilometer rail network has been in desperate need of modernizing and has faced criticism for alleged mismanagement, unfit equipment and poor maintenance. 

The deadly crash has prompted massive protests across the country about the government’s responsibility in the disaster as the first funerals of the victims were taking place. Thousands of people gathered on Sunday in front of the parliament in Athens, including several children. “This crime will not be covered up. We will be the voice of all the dead,” protesters chanted as they released black balloons into the sky.

Clashes erupted between police and demonstrators during the protests in Athens, the country’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki and Larissa, the city where the accident took place, with police using tear gas and sound grenades.

Protests have been staged over the last five days across the country and more have been called for the coming week. National rail services were halted as workers have been on strike since the crash.

Mitsotakis, who is preparing for elections in the spring, has promised an independent expert committee will investigate the cause of the accident. He also said he will ask the European Commission and other EU capitals for help. 

“I will immediately ask the European Commission and friendly countries for their contribution to know-how so that we can finally obtain modern trains,” said Mitsotakis. “And I will fight for additional community funding to quickly maintain and upgrade the existing network.”

In the meantime, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into a contract for the upgrade of the signaling system and remote control on the Greek railway.

“I can confirm that the EPPO has indeed an ongoing investigation, looking exclusively into possible damages to the financial interests in the EU,” an EPPO spokesperson told POLITICO, without providing any details regarding the “ongoing investigations in order not to endanger their outcome.”

The Greek government quickly announced the formation of an experts’ committee to investigate the deadly train collision, causing strong reactions from the opposition who said the move doesn’t have cross-party approval and aims to take over the judicial investigation.

“It is not possible for the person being audited to be an auditor at the same time,” main opposition party Syriza said in a statement.

One member of the experts’ committee already has resigned.